News and Analysis

Snow

Students hoping to fly out of D.C. for spring break on Thursday might be out of luck.

The District is expected to get anywhere between five and 10 inches of snow Wednesday night into Thursday, Capital Weather Gang reported. The city will be in a winter storm warning until 9 p.m. Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.

Capital Weather Gang reported that snowfall totals could change depending on what time rain turns into snow Wednesday night. The University of Maryland in College Park and Howard University already canceled Thursday classes.

D.C. Public Schools also canceled classes on Thursday, the Washington Post reported.

The University of Maryland, College Park will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, March 5, 2015, due to the approaching winter storm.

D.C. will deploy more than 200 snow trucks to be on their routes by 2 a.m. Thursday, according to a District Snow Team release sent Wednesday at about 2:30 p.m.

The University sent an email to off-campus students Wednesday evening with information about the city’s snow removal policies, steps to follow in case of a power outage and places to buy shovels. Drivers should move their cars to snow emergency routes by Thursday morning, the email read.

Package services and the Colonial Health Center will both be closed Tuesday, according to a campus advisory. Gelman and Eckles libraries opened at 10 a.m., and the Marvin Center and the Lerner Health and Wellness Center are operating on normal schedules.

The Vern Express will run every 30 minutes until further notice. The shuttle from Foggy Bottom to the Virginia Science and Technology Campus is not running.

J Street opened at 7:30 a.m. with “limited service” for meals. Pelham Commons on the Mount Vernon Campus opened at 9 a.m.

A winter storm warning will be in effect in D.C. from Monday at 6 p.m. to Tuesday at noon, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA predicated the area could get between 6 and 10 inches of snow.

Gelman and Eckles libraries closed at 10 p.m. on Monday, according to Gelman Library’s Twitter account.

GW’s Office of Off-Campus Student Affairs sent an email to students living off campus Monday night reminding them to clear their sidewalks and walkways, or face a fine from the D.C. government.

A city snow emergency will go into effect at 7 a.m. Tuesday, according to the office of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.

Capital Weather Gang, a blog run by the Washington Post, reported that D.C. public schools have a 50 percent chance of closing Tuesday. For all other D.C. schools, the analysts predicted a 75 percent chance of closure. They reported that snow fall will begin by 4 p.m., but the heaviest snow will start falling from midnight to 3 a.m.

American University has cancelled Monday evening classes, according to its Twitter account.

Snow is expected to dust the city Monday, and two counties in Virginia announced their public schools will be closed.

A dog stands in Dupont Circle during a snowball fight earlier this year. Hatchet File Photo

Between 2 and 4 inches of snow could accumulate in the D.C. area by Monday morning, the Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang predicted, but even less could pile up downtown or near the Potomac River.

Snow that falls in the early evening will likely melt because of above-freezing temperatures, but it could start to stick between 8 p.m. and midnight.

City agencies, D.C. schools and the federal government will also close Monday, and Metro bus service and MetroAccess have been suspended.

The National Weather Service declared a winter storm warning for Sunday night through Monday afternoon, with the brunt of the storm expected between 4 to 10 a.m.

The Capital Weather Gang predicted that sleet on Sunday night would freeze and be topped with between 5 to 9 inches of snow Monday morning.

D.C. is already 4 inches above its 30-year snowfall average. GW has already cancelled classes twice because of snow. The University announced around noon on Sunday that officials would be “monitoring possible inclement weather,” according to the Campus Advisories website.

GW Hospital has treated about 20 people for broken wrists Friday after about 9 inches of snow blanketed the city this week.

Since about 7 a.m. Friday morning, the hospital has treated three to four people an hour for “slips, trips and falls,” GW Hospital spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.

As school and office closings kept residents off the slippery sidewalks Thursday, hospital spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said traffic in the emergency room was “extremely light,” though staff staff members were sheltered in nearby hotels as a precaution.

Fall-related injuries like broken wrists are common the day after a big storm as residents venture outside for the first time, Taubenkibel said.

“As we had anticipated, as the sun came out and more people were getting out or doing normal routines, we knew we would see a bump in the number of people coming in,” Taubenkibel said early Friday.

Thursday’s snow totals in D.C. were three times larger than last winter’s totals. The storm led to thousands of flight cancellations across the country.

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